Page 35 of How to Seduce a Slender

“Well, Smith, if we’re being precise, you’re a lawyer. Hunting villains is the Lord Commander’s job. Your job is taking care of this house and all who are in it. Which now includes Ms. Deathless.” Agatha popped into Smith’s room and returned within a moment with the tray of food she’d brought Melody in the first place. Agatha held up the tray in one hand and put a hand on her other hip. “Now, I’m assuming since she asked to stay, that you told her how you felt?”

“I did, in a rather roundabout way, fully confess, but I am not sure she understands the depths of my possession with her,” Smith muttered, tucking his hands behind his back.

Agatha let out a roar of frustration before snatching up the tray with both hands. “I swear, the men in this manor are all love-stricken fools, but the moment you’re presented an opportunity to confess, you are cowards! I willnotsuffer another slow burn romance in this house, Smith. You had better march down there and confess in a not roundabout way that you’re in love with her! Or so help me, I will show you how slender you can get when I thwack you with a rolling pin!”

Smith sputtered, “It is not like that!”

“Oh?” Agatha snorted, not believing him in the slightest. “So, you’re just friends? Friendly friends who sleep in the same bed and pine after each other and stare at each other longingly, those kinds of friends? Right. Smith, let me know when you’ve finally admitted to the girl that you’d bend the sky and the moon for her. And don’t whine to me about how pretty or funny or delightful she is. For I shall just beat you with another towel until you see sense. AndI simply don’t have enough towels!”

She harrumphed, floating away from him with the tray toward the kitchen. Smith was left speechless in the hall, watching her go with his pride dragging behind her heels.

Was everyone intending to flay him alive this night? It hardly seems fair!

Chapter Thirteen

Melody

Melodyhadn’tmeant,perse, to just blurt out her thoughts like that. It just happened so fast, and he was giving her that Slender look like she was the one with six heads and made of white noise...when all she said was his touch returned her memories.Small wins, just take small wins...Because she was allowed to stay. Melody Deathless was no longer a little lost girl in the big city. She was a part of Rosemont Manor. She got to stay, even when she was better, and her memory was back, and her attacker was caught. She had a home!

Melody didn’t realize until the moment she burst through the downstairs bathroom door, pressing her back into it as it shut...just how much that stung.

She’d spent most of her life in survival mode and she’d forgotten what home felt like...if she’d ever known what it felt like at all. It was a foreign, tingly sensation that left her covered in goose bumps. As she stared at herself in a massive, ornately framed mirror, her reflection was not a woman she recognized. Despite the spots and age of the mirror, it was the woman blinking away tears that confused her. Because that wasn’t Melody Deathless.

Melody Deathless was a waitress no one remembered in a city that didn’t care for her. Not when her parents died, and she was left at the mercy of a system that lost track of her quite often. At some point, her brother and her stopped going back to the children’s home every night. After school, they’d hang out with friends, go to the park, hang around shops that took pity on orphaned children. They kept each other steady. Everywhere he went, she went. And the city didn’t care when she came back from the woods one day, covered in blood and screaming for help.

Not much they could do with a kid who didn’t remember what happened. The Enforcers took one look at her and handed her back to the children’s home. Melody grew up in survival mode with no idea of what home felt like.

Then Smith had to go and mess all that up.

What did she do now?Melody gasped, stumbling forward till her hands fell against the sink. She dry heaved as the pain she’d never allowed to take over suddenly choked her. Melody sank to her knees; trembling hands made her claws scrape across the porcelain.Why did he say yes?Because now she wanted to stay. Melody wanted to be a part of this family. She never wanted to return to the city...and she would have to, because who else would wait for him to come home.

Who would keep his memory alive if she wasn’t there to think of him?

Would they even want her when they realized she was missing more than her memory.

A sham.

A faker.

A liar.

You’re just a lost little girl in the woods with no wolf to keep her safe.

Melody did her best not to make a sound as her body sagged toward the exposed piping.

You’re just a lost little girl that no one would miss.

Melody’s claws raked through the porcelain, carving into it as the bathroom was painted red. Her blood burned in her veins. Her fangs elongated in her gums, baring to the crimson fog around her.

“No!”she growled, hackles rising on the back of her neck.

You’re just a weak, forgettable worm not worthy of their worry.The voice was tangible now, hissing in her ears. Melody raked her claws down her scalp, shivering at the sting she left behind.

“Shut up!”Her hands cupped her ears.

Filthy little—

“Fuck you!”she roared, snapping to her feet.

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